書信集 第 1 章 第 19/55 段

{To Sergios, consul and cousin} It is not only when I write that I remember your love, my most genuine kinsman, but I never fail to bear you always in my sinful prayer.

For I will speak of you not only as a kinsman, but as one of like mind, bound to my humble self beyond all other relatives, and indeed also as a lover of good conversation, as you yourself can surmise, since each person possesses in himself, as it were, a mirror of love toward his neighbor.

But the times have separated us, as you know.

But just as I pray that you be kept unharmed and without part in the Christ-warring heresy, so also do you, dearest, pray earnestly that I, sinner though I am in every way, may be preserved unscathed.

Do the captured Nazirites weep, or do they swim in the waves of the heresy as though they had suffered nothing at all? And what of our own man of Maximin? Instruct me — guarding the deposit of the faith inviolate, that if nothing else, we may present this sincerely to God.

{To Gregory, cleric} Rejoice, soldier of Christ, you have become an exile for his sake.

For since you were smelted like gold, as it were, and refined by fire through the scourges, the imprisonments, the outrages, the spittings, and whatever else followed upon these former things (for it is not possible to enumerate them all), you have also received the glory of exile as a kind of diadem.

The island has you as a dowry of orthodoxy; the land that bore you boasts of you, celebrating everywhere the strength of your manly courage.

Alone from the clergy of the imperial city, you are a divine offering.

Where then is the presbytery? Where are the subordinate ranks? O, what a loss!

All are of the present time, all are of the things here below, all are of the flesh, all are of fear — but not the holy Gregory, priest and minister of Christ.

For I even invoke your name, so as to record it as a kind of divine utterance.

You are numbered together with the great Gregorys, having, true to your name, kept watch over divine things and having endured labors and sweats for God's sake — I might add also bloodshed.

Rejoice, O apostles of the Lord, the divine and renowned temple!

For from you came the herald of truth; it is you who brought forth this noble man and your own priest as fruit.

Rejoice, martyrs of Christ, to whom his eloquent tongue has sung melodiously many times through the night — he whose virtue is far-resounding, whose knowledge is most glorious, and whose sweet melody is worthy of love.

Come to me, O initiate, and initiate there also into things worthy of initiation; teach the unlearned, enlighten those in darkness, for whose sake God has been pleased to grant you exile.

Do you have those who support your weak little body, or have you been deprived of everyone for Christ's sake? Yet Christ is your hearth, Christ your helper, Christ the giver of your crown.

To him do not fail to pray also that I may be kept safe and unharmed from the ever-roaring dragon.

{To Anatolios, my child} I rejoice as often as I receive a letter from you, my beloved and longed-for children.

For I hear your voice and am delighted; I see in my mind your countenance and am filled with joy.

For when could I ever forget you, my own inward parts, my own limbs? And I rejoice all the more when I hear and learn that you remain together unseparated, just as you were joined in the Lord in my presence.

This is due first to your graciousness, my beloved child Anatolios, the light of my eyes in the spirit; and then also to yours, my good child Sabbatios, who love to be given first place by your brother for the Lord's sake — which is an apostolic thing.

For indeed, when the Lord sent out the disciples two by two to preach, in each pair he made the one subordinate to the other.

since also "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," as the apostle says.

And this is the best law, and this is the best life.

Love one another thus, then, beloved, drawing out day after day with patience and long-suffering (for it was through this that the saints obtained the promises;

for "he who endures to the end," it says, "will be saved"), taking heed lest anything be done contrary to the commandment, lest anything be done through destructive presumption, lest anything be done through spiritual drowsiness.

For you know, my brothers, that the enemy's war against us is undeclared, as he continually strives by every kind of device to make us fall, to destroy us, to devour us.

But may the Lord not grant him power against us, if only we keep watch, if only we are sober, if only His pure fear nails down our flesh and restrains it whenever it is provoked and stirred.

"The flesh lusts against the Spirit," says the apostle, "and the Spirit against the flesh, so that we do not do the things we wish, but the things of the Spirit."

May Christ be our helper, in whom we have been commanded to conquer Satan, both in the matter of practice and in that of faith, in which especially the struggle now rages most fiercely.

Take heed, little children, do not become fearful of those who kill the body.

It is the time of martyrdom; let us endure all things, I beseech you, for Christ's sake, that we may be crowned.

Pray also for me, a sinner, that I may be saved in everything.

Greet those who are with you, especially brother Simon, if he is with you.

The brothers who are with me send you their warmest greetings.

{To Symeon, my child} It is not only when I write that I remember you, beloved child — for that would be nothing great — but I always hold you in good remembrance, together with my child abba Antony who is with you, praying that you both be kept, like two pupils of the eye, undimmed in faith and in love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But I especially praise your good sense, my child, in that you have fled far away from the land that bore you, dwelling as a stranger in a foreign place.

For what benefit was the settling-down to Daniel, now at rest? Therefore I grieve that the first brother has indeed remained behind, unlawfully and scandalously, with those he keeps company.

You, then, thinking divine thoughts, have done well to go into exile as a stranger, and you continue on your way.

And may the Lord equip you for every good work, working in you what is pleasing to him.

Help, however you can, your brothers who are not situated well, whether by letter or by presence — both the one aforementioned and those in that place.

I say this on account of Theonas and Theophilos the carpenter.

For I hear that the one has become altogether willful and headstrong, while the other is dwelling together with his sister.

To this latter I have written.

For the love of God, take the trouble to go to him and deliver the letter to him and read it — it is also enclosed within your own letter.

And perhaps God, seeing your labor, will set his life in order.

But as for Theonas, I have for now refrained from writing, lest he become a traitor as well.

But I beg you, concerning him too, either in person or by letter, to learn his state of mind, telling him that our father is deeply grieved to hear things that are not good about him.

And write to him — I too am able to arrange that your letter reach him safely, and he will write back to you.

And perhaps in this way he will be drawn along and will write, or else we shall learn for certain of his apostasy.

Yes, my children, I beg you, labor in this matter.

And may the God of my father show you forth as pillars and foundations of his Church, in that you endure not only the afflictions of exile but also the struggles even unto blood for the sake of his love — praying also for our humble self, that we may be saved in all things.

The brothers who are with me greet you with affection.

{To Theophilos, my child} Brother Theophilos, may you be in good health.

What is this that I have heard about you, my beloved son, my faithful child, who were more devout than most of the brothers, who from the beginning stood before all the carpenters as a good example, who were warmer than the others in godly defense and in fervent zeal for God (and why should I say much more?), who ought, in accordance with your very name, to be a light to those in this life and salt to those who have become foolish? Have you chosen to dwell together with your worldly sister? Do you return to a worldly place? Do you trample underfoot the reproach of the evangelical habit? Do you transgress against the divine laws? Do you disgrace our praised brotherhood? While other brothers of yours are variously kept in solitary confinement, or beaten and exiled, or lodging here and there in deserts and mountains and hidden places — and while, quite simply, the good God has opened a door for each one — do you alone sit down against the God who saved you and called you? O the horror to my humble soul! O the contempt shown to the judgment of God!

I cannot bear it, my Lord, O Lord, I cannot endure what is within me.

I am on fire, my inmost being ablaze.

Instead of light, my son has become darkness; instead of glory, dishonor; instead of praise, blasphemy; instead of benefit, scandal.

Hear, brother, the Lord speaking concerning you: 'It would have been better for him that a millstone be hung about his neck and he be cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of his brothers to stumble.'

But you, causing everyone to stumble, parade about openly.

Take the letter from your brothers; leap up, withdraw from the curse of the Lord, from the eternal woe!

Reconcile yourself with your brother, that Christ may be reconciled to you, so that you may put an end to my grief, sinner that I am, and destroy the scandal of Satan, with whom you have made friends.

For our God is a consuming fire.

For this is the very word for you which the great Basil spoke to someone who, like you, was living together with a woman:

You shall be anathema to all the people, and those who receive you shall be excommunicated.

May this be far from you, my child Theophilus, both to say and to think.

{To Pasarion, his child} Having learned that you departed from where you were up to your present place and went down to the steward, my child, seeking to fare well, I glorified my good God, casting off my grief.

For indeed I grieved not a little that you remained there against the command, not coming together with us in the time of persecution and of our distress on account of our true worship, although you were one of the leading men and able to help by deed and by word.

But nevertheless it has come to pass, and may God forgive you.

Now then, my beloved child, walk in a manner pleasing to God, rebuilding your slowness into a benefit for your brothers and for others, persevering unto death and not betraying Christ.

Do not be alone, but with one companion, or even more, yet in every case with the one who is willing, whoever that may be;

for it is not possible for me to give a definite ruling on this.

Do not cease to remember me;

Your brothers greet you.

{To Lawrence, his child} What is this so great grace given to you, my child, that the steward calls upon me to offer you thanks on his behalf? Indeed, it is not for his sake alone but also for my own that I write, and praise, and pray for you, because you are truly a faithful son, a lover of your father, a lover of your brothers, showing this by your very deeds,

for who visited me, the sinner, here before you did? And who looked upon the steward, or showed him an active disposition of love? For indeed he is the first among the brothers, and whoever does something for him does it for me;

not that all of you are not my very inward parts (for you are), but that he is more honored, rightly bearing the person of my humility.

Blessed are you, my beloved son, and blessed is your submission and obedience.

Pray for me, the humble one, that I may be saved in all things.

Greet on my behalf my brother and beloved son Dionysius, and if there is any other keeping watch over the mystery of my children, greet him also.

And I beg you, if Arcadius is not sharing their cup where he is, take him in as if from me, and bring him safely through.

{To Athanasius, abbot} This letter of yours too, inscribed as it were by God, gladdened us, the humble, over your health and manly vigor, but grieved us over the praises and encomiums with which you extol us, the unadorned and negligent, who have done nothing whatever good upon earth;

for the saints say this out of humility, but I, the sinner, say it out of truth.

But the affection of your fatherly holiness attributes to us things that are not, in order surely to make us better, since praise too often does good.

Thanks, then, be to the holy God, that you bear your bonds and imprisonment with good courage, brave soldier of Christ.

For your divine zeal and love you shoot forth, as it were, like fiery darts through your precious words, and, most beautiful of all, with knowledge and elevated contemplation, which the leap out of the midst of the world and the ascent on high through the confession of Christ have furnished you;

in which may you be perfectly preserved, signaling like the morning star to those in the night-battle of the heresy, and perhaps also as a pillar and foundation of the truth, upholding the faint and the sinking;

but indeed also, like a lofty arm, may you stretch out a hand to those who have fallen and slipped.

And this the letter to Photinoudios made clear to us;

you did well, if indeed it accomplishes anything;

but in any case, for now, you yourself have fulfilled what was needed.

since disturbance is running back upon all the confessors of Christ;

'Test all things,' says the apostle, 'hold fast that which is good.'

Do not forget, then, my humble self, beloved one and namesake of the much-tried saint, to pray unceasingly that I may be delivered from the snares of the devil, both according to the inner man and the outer.

{To the Abbot of Panagra} Love is a thing that cannot be held in check;

for it is neither confined by place nor extinguished by the season of trial, unlike those accustomed to love superficially and carnally, who, whenever some circle of hardship comes round, become distant from and hostile toward those they love.

We, the humble, are not such, even though in other respects we are worthy of groaning because of our sins; rather, in trials we are accustomed all the more to intensify the charm of love;

for which reason, though separated by so great a distance, we could not bear, even while in prison, not to fulfill the duty of love and to visit your holiness by letter, O honored fathers.

For we have learned that you left the monastery and hid yourselves upon the mountain, in obedience to the command that ordered it, because of the Christ-fighting persecutors.

And indeed blessed are you, having counted all things secondary for Christ's sake and, to speak in the apostle's words, 'wandering in mountains and caves and holes of the earth.'

But even though such a life is grievous to the flesh, nevertheless, brothers, know that it procures eternal life and rivals the way of life of the saints;

for who among those from the beginning of the age has ever been shown to have pleased God without trial? And the apostle also testifies, saying, 'All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted, but evil men and impostors shall grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.'

Such are those who now hold this heresy, and who persecute Christ through his holy icon together with that of his holy Mother and of all the saints alike, and utterly despise them with contempt in every city and region; for this is the nature of an icon, to be an imitation of its archetype and of that after which it is named, as Gregory the Theologian says:

and again the great Basil: 'For the honor given to the image passes over to the prototype.'

And it is not yet the time to speak at length, both because your reverence has also been sufficiently tested in the matters of truth, and because I have already exceeded the proper measure of a letter.

I beseech you, then, holy fathers, to hold fast the confession of the faith unwavering unto the end, and not to be weakened in the least by the tripping-up of the deluded false brethren;

for they have been greatly deceived, having entered into communion against Christ.

But pray also that we sinners may complete the contest set before us, in Christ, who girds even the weak with strength.

{To Parthenius, his child} O good Parthenius, soldier of God, my true child, are you too among the athletes of Christ? Are you too a champion of orthodoxy, small in age yet great in courage? Come, tell me, my beloved son, how did you choose to suffer for Christ's sake? How did you endure being scourged together with those of many years, you, the young man of Christ, still downy of cheek, the rational lamb? Glory to God who strengthened you; praise to Christ who chose you to be shown forth as one star of piety among your band of ten brothers.

You contended even before the matter came to a head, as I have been told, and you have already come to be counted blessed by those who have heard of you, and even by those who have not.

I placed you at the outset among the first, and you became the very foremost of the first in virtue.

My son, rejoice; praise God who has magnified you, and he will magnify you yet still more, if you complete your contest.

Therefore I ask and beseech you: stand firm, be strengthened in patient endurance, remembering the contests you have well accomplished; yet a little while, a very little while, and 'he who is coming will come and will not delay.'

What joy you are about to obtain at the time of the dissolution of the body, or even before the parting of soul and body.

My child, take heed to yourself, for even within, the tyrant devil is always provoking you through the passions.

Contend also according to conscience, not being tripped up by sin;

with trembling may you please God, at one time working with your hands, at another chanting the psalms, at another praying, or doing whatever else may serve to fill out the day.

Yes, my child, fulfill my joy, that hearing the things concerning you, I may rejoice and boast.

And pray also for me, your humble father.

Your brothers who are with me greet you.

{To Hegesimos, his child} Well done, my child Hegesimos; I consider you a confessor of Christ;

for you have led the way well, entering into the stadium of salvation together with your brothers.

You were stripped together with Christ, you were scourged together with him, you were made conformed to the body of his glory.

Do you not rejoice? Do you not leap for joy? How many in number are your brothers, and yet you were counted worthy, together with the nine, to bear off the prize of the contest?

Whence has this come to you, O child? Glorify, hymn, praise the Lord who has magnified you as a free gift.

But do not fall back; rather, take heart still more into the love of Christ, serving him eagerly and fervently through every commandment;

for the martyrdom is still ongoing, until death shall come.

Do not doze off in soul;

work with your hands, sing with the spirit, sing also with the mind.

Cleanse your mind from the evil thoughts that defile the heart.

Rejoice in hope, endure in tribulation, remember your departure, keep in mind the fearful day of recompense.

Be eager, if it should be necessary, to be scourged again, and perhaps even to die, for Christ's sake, so that you may say with joy, 'For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'

Pray also for me, a sinner, that I may be kept safe in all things;

the brothers who are with me greet you.

[To his son Stephen] Grace to you, brother Stephen, my beloved child, athlete of Christ;

I visit you by this letter, I embrace you from my heart,

good is your contest and exile for Christ's sake;

you chose to bear blows, that you might be conformed to the sufferings of Christ, crowned—fittingly, in accordance with your name—by the martyrdom of Christ.

Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in the heavens.

But since the contest is still ongoing, there is need of endurance, that in this way you may obtain God's promise unto the end; prepare yourself, perhaps, even to be scourged again—yes, and even to die as a martyr.

And who is worthy to endure this? I know your struggles in the monastery, both ascetic and eager for martyrdom, the readiness and fervor of your heart, from which you were also led to enter the arena of Christ's martyrdom.

Excel still further, still act with manly courage through endurance, that you may dance in the choir with confessors, with martyrs.

Concerning the guarding of your soul, it is unnecessary for me to write to you, since I know your exactness, your lack of presumption, your sobriety, your watchfulness.

Continue in these things, that your progress may be spoken of; remember the day of death, and you will always be free from negligence.

Pray, and pray earnestly, for my lowliness, that I may be kept safe in all things;

your brothers who are with me greet you most warmly.

[To his son Ephraim] Rejoice, my child Ephraim, good soldier of Christ;

How are you? How is the exile? How is your endurance? Do you give thanks to God that you have been deemed worthy to suffer, for his name's sake, the things you have suffered? Do you glorify and praise him that, out of the whole brotherhood, you became one of the ten—second in being beaten, but first in monastic rank? Do you sing his praise and cherish this, that you saw your own blood poured out upon the ground and your flesh scraped away for the sake of the holy icon of Christ? Thanks be to the Lord, my brother, who called you together with the rest to confess him;

You have shone among your brothers, or rather in the church of God.

Consider, then, your calling; consider your glory: where you were below, and to what height Christ has raised you;

For reflect on yourself and your affairs, and give glory to the good God, for it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Stand firm still, then, my child, bearing up under the toil of inward thoughts;

for this warfare is great and unceasing until the end of life,

waged invisibly by foes more bitter than bodily tyrants, so that you may obtain the reward of your crown.

There is still a contest laid before you; do not grow faint whatever things God may permit or be pleased to allow to be brought upon you. Do not be persuaded by anyone, even by an angel, to think otherwise than what you received from God—to venerate the icons of the saints together with those of Christ and of the all-holy Theotokos;

and let the peace of God rule in your heart in all endurance and consolation.

Pray for me, the humble one, that I may be kept safe.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

[To Theophylact of Nicomedia] For two years I have been anxious and toiling in my thoughts to write to your sacred eminence, and only now, at last, have I, the lowly one, fulfilled my desire.

But well it is that I am counted worthy, through this letter, to greet you—my father, the pillar of truth, the foundation of orthodoxy, the guardian of piety, the support of the Church, the victorious man, the Christ-bearing high priest, the martyr by confession of God;

Is there not, then, for you a crown of martyrdom, seeing that for Christ's sake you are exiled, driven from your home, much-enduring—and this in a body tender by nature, yet already worn out, I know, by the ascetic race toward God? In you the choir of the orthodox-minded boasts; the region of Nicomedia rejoices and exults, putting you forward as a free gift to the world beneath heaven, having shaken off the reproaches long rumored of those who formerly presided there.

But if I must speak more intimately: Tarasios, who is among the saints, rejoices—seeing you, once a sheep of his own fold and hand, now a renowned shepherd contending and running risk on behalf of orthodoxy, to which he himself contributed his part synodically, by the grace of God, in the days of the reign of her who was named 'Peace' and was indeed a giver of peace, so that events corresponded fittingly to the name.

But the present things are bitter and painful (how could they not be?), altars being obliterated, churches being plundered, heresy throwing everything into confusion above and below, and persecuting Christ together with his Mother and his servants.

For are they not persecuted, when their holy icons are being destroyed? Unless, indeed, one should say that even when the figure of the life-giving Wood is obliterated, the Cross itself has not been removed from the way.

But if this must not be granted in the case of the Cross, how can it not likewise be conceded in the case of the icon? For the figure too is an icon, as the argument turns back upon itself in reverse.

But who am I, wretched and uninitiated, to be giving reasons for these things to a divine father and teacher? May you rather teach us, O most holy one, the more perfect things, as one initiated by God, and may you instruct us by deed to bear steadfastly the present—whether chastisement or trial—the former upon us on account of our sins, the latter upon you on account of the divine love of Christ;

to whom may you not fail to entreat, that he may most swiftly turn away the shadow of impiety into the morning of peaceful orthodoxy.

[To Epiphanius, hegoumen of Eukairia] Ever since I was informed that your holiness was transferred to the prison you now occupy for the Lord's sake, it has not been possible for me, until now, to write to you, although I had the desire;

But since I learned for certain that you are triumphant both in place and in manner, I write to you with haste and with longing;

through which I also love you, sacred head, and embrace you, and rejoice and rejoice with you;

For how are our circumstances not a cause of joy, since, on account of the joy which the Theotokos brought forth, each one of us is in exile and in prison? For I, unworthy as I am, dare to number myself among the confessors of Christ, for whom and because of whom we have been deemed worthy to suffer.

Our affairs, O man, are matter for gladness, for longing, for delight, for boasting;

Do you not hear Paul saying, 'Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the Church'? For the sake of this Church the sufferings now also occur—the affliction, the distress, the persecution, the beating, whatever else—for a demonstration of destruction to those who Judaize, but for a recompense of salvation to those who, with you, endure the marks of Christ.

Are there some who are pious, even secretly like Nicodemus, among the soldier-monks and those forced into lay life, or have all turned aside and become worthless? And how do matters of contemplation stand with you? Since you are pure, do you receive clear and sincere manifestations from God? Is Christ bending, when entreated, toward rebuking the heretical tumult, or does he still delay the rebuke in order to test, in some, their longing for him, and in others, to let the whole of their wickedness be poured out, so that he may punish them justly? Teach me about each of these things, and above all strengthen me with your prayers, that I—your lover and admirer, sinner though I am—may remain unshaken amid the assaults of inward passions and outward temptations.

[To his son Naukratios] Those who have already trained themselves beforehand to hear afflicting things are not taken aback by unwelcome tidings.

Therefore, my child, we were not troubled by the reports in your letters;

yet they are indeed most pitiable (how could they not be?), since the sacred temples of God are still being destroyed, and the persecution against the pious rages more wildly, both within and without.

Nevertheless, every soul must be tested like a bell struck for soundness, and every place must be sifted, so that the wheat may be separated from the chaff, even if it be but very little;

since, as the Lord said, few are the elect.

The fall of the bishop of Demetrias grieved us not a little;

and indeed, as it is said, 'do not praise a man until his end.'

For what indeed have we suffered? We have not yet resisted unto blood in our struggle against impiety, and we have forgotten, to speak in apostolic terms, the exhortation.

I am in agony concerning the brothers who were arrested together, as I consider how things will turn out for them;

except that we have become accustomed, like those in the bronze-smithies to the hammering, not to be astonished at hearing grave misfortunes.

I pray, then, sinner though I am, that they may fare well;

for the contest is for Christ's sake, and is not being made light of, as it was in the matter of the adultery affair by certain foolish people;

it is Christ himself, manifestly, who is now being rejected, together with his Mother and his servants.

O men, O soldiers of Christ, stand nobly, take up mighty weapons, with which Paul commands us to be armed for the destruction of the strongholds of the devil;

behold the war, behold the victory (for Christ is our helper), behold the unfading crowns of righteousness, behold paradise, behold the kingdom of heaven;

The angels are watching, they lend a hand in our wrestling against our adversaries; the saints from heaven contend along with us, looking down upon our arenas of combat.